Microelectronic assemblies generally include one or more ICs, such as for example one or more packaged dies (“chips”). One or more of such ICs may be mounted on a circuit platform, such as a wafer such as in wafer-level-packaging (“WLP”), printed board (“PB”), a printed wiring board (“PWB”), a printed circuit board (“PCB”), a printed wiring assembly (“PWA”), a printed circuit assembly (“PCA”), a package substrate, an interposer, a chip carrier, or other substrate. Microelectromechanical systems (“MEMS”; also referred to as micro systems technology (“MST”) or “micromachines”) conventionally incorporate nanotechnology with nanoelectromechanical systems (“NEMS”). MEMS components may be coupled to a circuit platform, along with other components, of a microelectronic assembly. Conventionally, a MEMS component has a large surface area to volume ratio, and so surface effects such as wetting, such as solder wetting for example, may be an issue with respect to coupling a MEMS component to a circuit platform.
Along those lines, a MEMS chip or component, such as for providing sensors for example, may have copper stud bumps on a side surface. Such copper stud bumps may be connected to a substrate, such as a PCB for example having copper bond pads, using solder shooting. Bond pad pitch may be fine, such as approximately a 130 micron pitch or less, and copper stud bumps may themselves be approximately 80 to 100 microns in width. Bottom edges of such copper stud bumps may be approximately 40 to 50 microns from a top surface of such PCB, and thickness of such copper bond pads may be approximately 50 microns on top of such top surface of such PCB. Thus, solder shooting may create unwanted solder bridging between bond pads and/or from a bond pad to a bottom die edge of an exposed active surface of a die of a MEMS chip.
To address such bridging, solder paste may be applied by screen printing, dispensing or other form of application. However, application of solder paste may narrow a die placement window. For example, a die of a MEMS chip may have to be placed very close to PCB bond pads to make one or more solder connections, and this placement may present solder bridging and/or wicking issues.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and useful to provide coupling of a MEMS component to a circuit platform which lessens likelihood, including without limitation avoids, one or more of the above-identified issues.